The Next Wave

Industry experts agree that CMIOs are rapidly moving into a new era in which they are leading clinical and organizaitonal transformation. The position, says Mark Van Kooy, M.D., director of clinical informatics at the Denver-based Aspen Advisors, "has gone from soneone who was just the link to the docs, someone trying to bring the docs along, to a role that really has to help meet the expectations created by the entire data-based infrastructure for managing value-based care," says the Sewell, N.J.-based Van Kooy, who recently served as a CMIO for five years before joining Aspen. "So that really compels the physician to be in the hot seat for transformation." Van Kooy, who is a master black belt in Six Sigma and has consulted on that methodology, adds that he believes that CMIOs will increasingly need to be highly fluent in improvement methodologies and process leadership in order to be effective in their increasingly transformation-focused roles.

Mark Van Kooy, M.D.

Kip Webb, M.D., M.P.H., executive director of Accenture Clinical Services, the global clinically oriented practice of the New York-based Accenture, says the growing focus on transformation is also of necessity altering CMIOs’ positions in their organizations, in line with what THR’s Velasco and HealthEast’s Patty have been experiencing. "It’s evolving, and I think, in some very hopeful ways," says the San Francisco-based Webb. "Historically, the CMIO has been a chief with no Indians; so they’re typically a younger doctor, although not necessarily. And they’re typically pretty tech-oriented, but historically have not had either the clout in terms of staff, or the organizational clout, to get things done, so they’ve historically focused on the technology."

Now, as the CMIO position is becoming more and more strategic, "They are starting to build up groups of informaticists who can help them to execute," Webb emphasizes. Most importantly, he says, "Their institutions have started to value what they can deliver; they’ve said, this is core to what we need to do." Fortunately, at the same time as their CMIOs’ roles have been maturing, CMIOs have been reaching out to each other through such channels as the AMDIS listserv.

Given these developments, all of those interviewed for this article agree that the C-suite executives, including CIOs in patient care organizations, will need to think as broadly and strategically about the CMIO role as possible, particularly as their organizations move forward into the new healthcare world. "My advice," concludes THR’s Velasco, "would be to conceive of the CMIO and the CHIO roles in the context of the accountable care transition, rather than simply as an implementational leader; because while the implementation aspects are important, they need to be embedded in the work towards population health, analytics, and quality and care management."